


Safe and Sound

by gongji



Category: Shin Sangokumusou | Dynasty Warriors
Genre: But Jia Chong really isn't any better, Hand Jobs, M/M, Masturbation, Minor Injuries, Surprise Kissing, Zhong Hui is a giant idiot, confused feelings, these tags make this fic look so weird im so sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-24
Updated: 2014-07-24
Packaged: 2018-02-10 04:38:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2011218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gongji/pseuds/gongji
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jia Chong and Zhong Hui try to come to terms with their awkward feelings for each other. They aren't very good at it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Safe and Sound

“Oh, your bed is so hard…”

“I like it that way.”

The afternoon was certainly not going the way Jia Chong had expected it to go. His first mistake was allowing Zhong Hui to step inside his room in the first place. His second was to believe he’d get anything done while the annoying advisor was here. Instead of sitting down in the chair like any normal person would, Zhong Hui’s first instinct was to make a beeline onto Jia Chong’s bed. And now, while Jia Chong was trying to get work done at his desk, he had to entertain Zhong Hui, who was now rolling around by himself in his bed.

“How do you even sleep on this? It’s so uncomfortable.” Zhong Hui flops onto his stomach and hits the bed with a fist. “I hate it.”

“No one asked you to get in it,” Jia Chong turns over a scroll and doesn’t look up. “Why are you here, anyway?” His question gets no immediate response aside from the sudden shuffling from the man behind him.

“I just… That’s…” Zhong Hui stumbles over his words as if he’d never spoken before, which was quite unlike his usual self, Jia Chong notes. “I just wanted to talk to you, I don’t need to explain myself.”

“And so your first thought is to crawl into my bed?”

“Do you want me off?”

“No, you can stay.” Jia Chong says after some thought, and he hears a small “hmph” from behind him.

“Then what was the problem?” Zhong Hui plays with the corner of the sheets with his fingers. “What a pointless question, then.” When Jia Chong doesn’t follow up with another response, Zhong Hui looks down at the cloth in his hands and ponders his next choice of words.

“Did you—” He begins just as Jia Chong begins to say a few words of his own, and they both stop speaking at the same time. Zhong Hui awkwardly stumbles over his words again at the interruption.

“Go ahead,” Jia Chong stops to let him speak, looking more interested in the scrolls before him than anything Zhong Hui had to say, but Zhong Hui sits up and shakes his head.

“…Never mind. What were you going to say?”

“Don’t forget we’re leaving out on campaign later,” Jia Chong says, “Are you ready?” Zhong Hui frowns and tosses his hair over his shoulder, hoping his extra body language proved to the speaker how obvious the answer to the question was.

“Of course I’m ready! When have I ever not been ready?” At this point, he doesn’t even have to _try_ to sound proud, his ego leaks out of every syllable by itself. “What a silly thing to ask.”

If he were really looking, perhaps Zhong Hui would have noticed the faintest smile find itself on Jia Chong’s lips. But again, he says nothing to continue the conversation, and Zhong Hui starts to wonder whether he should have even come here at all.

“Gonglü, will you come over here?” When he speaks again, Zhong Hui’s voice is uncharacteristically quiet, and Jia Chong doesn’t know whether it’s because he’s nervous about asking or if he’s just assuming Zhong Hui is trying to hide his true intentions.

“What for?”

“I asked you to.”

“I’m busy.”

“No, you’re not. You’ve been staring at the same scroll since I started talking.” And he was right – Jia Chong had to admit he was impressed at Zhong Hui’s perception, but he wasn’t going to say that out loud.

“I’m concentrating.”

“Liar.”

He puts the scroll down, but doesn’t look up. “So what would you have me do, then?” And just as he expected, Zhong Hui doesn’t have an answer for him. Why would he ask for something if he doesn’t even know what he wants? Even for Zhong Hui, it doesn’t make sense.

So Zhong Hui decides to take a different route. “Am I allowed to bring up that time—”

“Are you asking me for permission to speak?”

“Do you have to interrupt me every time I do?” Zhong Hui doesn’t know how his patience has lasted this long, but then again, perhaps neither does Jia Chong. “That time in the hallway.”

“You’ll have to be more specific.”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

“I can’t say I do.”

“When we were both in that hallway and you…!”

“I…?”

“It was when we were talking about the meeting we were both in, that one about the campaign against Shu, and you…”

“…I…?”

“You…!”

“Are you going to say it or do I have to keep asking?”

Zhong Hui grabs a pillow and hugs it, removing his gaze from where it was previously stuck on the man at the desk. “You kissed me.”

And indeed, just a few days ago Jia Chong and Zhong Hui were walking back from a meeting when it happened. Zhong Hui had been talking to him about his thoughts on the previous discussion when Jia Chong grabbed his shoulder, turned him around, and pressed his lips against his, mid-sentence. Zhong Hui’s thoughts still linger on how soft Jia Chong’s lips were against his, how the grip on his shoulder moved to the back of his head and held it gently, how Jia Chong’s eyes closed during the kiss while Zhong Hui’s flew open… and of course, how every scroll Zhong Hui had been holding was dropped onto the floor in his surprise, where they rolled away down the hallway. Zhong Hui doesn’t know what caused him to lose his breath more, the fact that Jia Chong had kissed him in the first place (and without warning!) or his face when he did. Jia Chong pulled away with a smile, surveyed the younger man’s expression, and walked away without a word.

And now, days later and still so enamored by the kiss, Zhong Hui waits for Jia Chong’s reply.

“Oh, did I?” His response instantly earns a pillow thrown right at the back of his head.

“How dare you forget!” Zhong Hui’s voice raises considerably. “What kind of person forgets something like that?!”

“It was obviously not a very memorable experience.” And Zhong Hui immediately looks for something else to throw at his head.

“Don’t give me that! You know exactly what I’m talking about, don’t you dare say you forgot!”

“Why are you bringing this up so suddenly?” Jia Chong tries to make it look like he isn’t interested by pulling out another scroll, but the both of them know his attention is very much on the loud (albeit one-sided) banter between them.

After a pause, Zhong Hui opens his mouth to speak. “I wanted to ask why you did it.” He receives no answer. “Gonglü?”

Jia Chong sits back with a sigh and lets go of the scroll, where it hits the desk with a loud tapping sound. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“I don’t know.”

“What kind of answer is that?!”

“I just wanted to see how you’d react.”

“That is… a terrible reason.”

Jia Chong only shrugs. “Is that why you came here, to ask me why I did it?”

“No, it’s not the only reason.” Zhong Hui grabs the second pillow from the bed and holds it close to him. He waits for Jia Chong to ask him for his other reason, but, of course, he doesn’t, and now Zhong Hui _really_ doesn’t know how his patience has held up for so long. “I wanted to ask you if you could do it again.”

And now he _knows_ he’s got Jia Chong’s attention. “You want me to kiss you again?”

He reaches up to touch his hair quickly in his nervous habit. “Isn’t that what I just said? I don’t think I could have made it any clearer than that.” His fussing only receives a quiet chuckle in response. “You aren’t a very good conversationalist, are you?”

“It depends on the conversation.”

“Are you really not interested me?”

“I never said that.” And Zhong Hui falls down on his back with a sigh, staring at the ceiling and regretting his decision to come here.

“You’re just speaking in circles, just give me a straight answer!”

And so he does. “I’d kiss you again.” His answer stops Zhong Hui’s heart for the slightest moment, and Zhong Hui tries to act calmly, his gaze fixating on a wooden board in the ceiling to collect himself.

“Right now?” He steadies his voice so the other man won’t hear his sudden nervousness, or perhaps this was anticipation he was feeling?

Jia Chong doesn’t reply for a moment, and Zhong Hui doesn’t push it this time. But instead of letting the conversation die out again, he turns around to finally look at the general in his bed, waiting until Zhong Hui picks his head up to make eye contact. Jia Chong is almost certain he can see the exact moment Zhong Hui’s breath leaves him when he realizes he’d been staring – perhaps it was his blatant amusement for the situation getting to him, but Jia Chong finds it somewhat endearing. He gets up from his seat and gently removes his coat, never breaking eye contact, watching how Zhong Hui’s eyes follow him diligently as he moves. He shrugs the fabric away, where it slides off his shoulders and falls from his arms onto the floor, the tight, sleeveless shirt underneath exposing his pale and muscular arms. Zhong Hui bites his bottom lip, watching the light-skinned advisor walk slowly towards the bed, his heart racing and pounding against his chest so hard he thinks Jia Chong can hear it well before he even approaches. The older man climbs onto the hard mattress and hovers over Zhong Hui, precariously placing his knee dangerously close in between Zhong Hui’s legs and leaning his head in towards the general’s. Zhong Hui turns away only to hide the embarrassing and overwhelming flush slowly taking over his face.

“What are you turning away for?” Jia Chong’s voice is deep, it vibrates against Zhong Hui’s spine at their proximity. “This is what you asked for, right?”

Zhong Hui turns back to face him, his reddening face incredibly obvious to the man before him, “I just didn’t expect you to, that’s all.”

“Do you still want me to?”

“Of course…!”

Jia Chong’s laugh forms at the back of his throat; it is dark and husky, and Zhong Hui realizes he’s never actually heard him like this before. Jia Chong leans in, and Zhong Hui closes his eyes in anticipation, his heartbeat drumming against his chest loudly, his lips parted just slightly…

He waits, but the kiss never comes. He opens his eyes only to be greeted by an amused smirk, and Zhong Hui’s brows knit together in confusion. Was he doing something wrong? Jia Chong leans in again – this time Zhong Hui keeps his eyes on him carefully, and before their lips meet, Jia Chong pulls away again. Zhong Hui’s frustration becomes more apparent in his frown.

"What are you doing?"

"You’re just fun to play with."

Impatiently, Zhong Hui grabs him by the collar and drags him in close to his face until their foreheads touch, and Zhong Hui stares intensely straight into his eyes. “Then play with me.”

This time, Jia Chong can’t hide the amusement in his face at the general’s words “Yeah?”

"Yeah." Zhong Hui breathes.

For a moment, Jia Chong doesn’t move – he stays there, gaze locked with the man’s underneath him. And then he pulls back. “Alright,” he says. He moves in again and presses his lips against Zhong Hui’s gently, so gently Zhong Hui feels like they aren’t even touching at all. His lips are so soft, Zhong Hui finds it hard to believe they belong to the same blood thirsty man Jia Chong is often made out to be. It hardly seemed appropriate, and Zhong Hui feels as though if he opened his eyes, he’d see a different person hovering before him. Jia Chong holds them there for a moment before pulling away, but Zhong Hui immediately wants more. He leans up to catch his lips once again, and the older man returns the kiss with more effort, parting his lips and adding more pressure. Zhong Hui’s arms instinctively wrap around Jia Chong’s neck, pulling him closer; the kisses on Zhong Hui’s end were sloppy and lacked control – he doesn’t know if it’s out of pure excitement or a lack of experience, but Jia Chong feels the need to teach the younger man a few things. He hopes the other advisor will follow his lead.

Zhong Hui feels the warmth of Jia Chong’s tongue flick and trail along his lower lip, generously tracing the dry, chapped parts there. Jia Chong nips at the edge of his lip lightly, sucking and grazing his teeth against it, pulling it outward playfully. Zhong Hui parts his lips just enough for Jia Chong’s tongue to dart inside, where it rolls against the corners of his mouth; Zhong Hui believes he can almost taste a faint hint of citrus lingering on the older man’s palate. He combs his hand through Jia Chong’s hair, feeling the coarseness of it through his fingers, loving the short, acknowledging groan Jia Chong gives him in return. Jia Chong flicks his tongue against Zhong Hui’s, bringing it into his mouth and sucking on it hungrily, tilting his head and bringing his hand behind Zhong Hui’s head to hold him steady. He opens his eyes to peek at the younger man, just for a bit, fighting the urge to smile when Zhong Hui’s entire body shivers at the touch to the back of his head – Jia Chong had some vague knowledge about how sensitive Zhong Hui was, but seeing it for himself was incredibly amusing. Running his fingers through brunette hair, the sudden shivering he receives as a reaction actually freezes Zhong Hui in place, his lips parted and trembling, his eyes remain closed. Jia Chong licks his own lips at the sight of that and brings him back for more, and a small groan escapes the younger man’s throat.

Eventually, they pull back slowly, but Jia Chong doesn’t move away, his attention fixated on the smaller man beneath him. Zhong Hui returns his gaze, staring back quietly, so lost in the moment they don’t hear the first knocks at the door. The second ones ruin the moment completely and sends them back to earth. “What’s that?” Zhong Hui turns his attention to the door.

"Gonglü?" Sima Zhao stands outside the door, his knuckles tapping against the wood. "Gonglü are you in there?”

Jia Chong picks his head up but doesn’t move. “Yes, my lord?”

“Hey, do you know where Zhong Hui is? We gotta go soon."

"Have you tried the bathroom, my lord? You know how long it takes for him to fix his hair.” Zhong Hui looks like he’s about to argue, but before he can even make a sound, Jia Chong clamps his hand over the younger man’s mouth, earning a surprised glare.

"Well, no, just his room and a few others. Can I come in?"

"My lord…"

"Right, okay, well if you see him, tell him to hurry up! And you hurry up too, we’re leaving soon."

"Of course, my lord. I’ll meet you later. He’ll come, don’t worry."

Only when Jia Chong is sure the Sima lord was far enough down the hall does he let go of Zhong Hui’s mouth, and is predictably greeted with an annoyed, “Excuse me, I do not take that long in the bathroom!”

“Shh, do you want him to come back again?” Jia Chong replies, but still doesn’t move from where he hovers over Zhong Hui. A few moments pass before Zhong Hui makes a sound, and Jia Chong turns his attention back to him.

“Well? We should go, then.” Jia Chong says, “You did say you were ready, right?”

“Of course!” Zhong Hui looks small from this angle, Jia Chong thinks, especially when he looks away and brings his hand up to touch a strand of hair. What a strange nervous habit, Jia Chong wonders where and how that started. He brings a hand up and runs his thumb along Zhong Hui’s cheek, earning another blush and a confused glance. He moves his hand up towards Zhong Hui’s forehead, and in one swift motion he pushes the younger man’s bangs up away from his face, and Zhong Hui lets go of where he was playing with his hair immediately.

“Wh-what?” His voice falters even if he didn’t intend it to, but Jia Chong doesn’t say anything; doesn’t give any explanation, he only stares for a moment before letting him go and getting up from the bed.

“Time to go,” He says, walking over and picking up his jacket from the floor. He exits almost immediately after and leaves Zhong Hui dazed and staring off after him from his own room.

* * *

 

Jia Chong doesn’t say a single word to him the entire way and it almost drives Zhong Hui crazy.

“What’s with him…?” Zhong Hui says out loud to himself as he watches the back of Jia Chong’s head where he rides his horse beside Sima Zhao’s. “He does all that and then doesn’t say a word to me, what’s that supposed to mean?” He grips the reigns of his own horse tightly, his upsetting mood apparent in his gritted teeth and bad posture.  He looks over at the horse beside him, carrying a very confused looking Zhuge Dan looking over his way. “What?” Zhong Hui barks,” What do you want?” Zhuge Dan hurriedly steers his horse away before he caused a scene.

The scene on the battlefield was no different. Jia Chong stuck closely to Sima Zhao, he didn’t even turn his attention to see how Zhong Hui was doing at all. And Zhong Hui, of course, tried just about everything to get his attention. Feigned injury, impressive multiple kills, loud yelling, not even a giant body pile was enough to get the other man’s attention (he even took that one straight out of Jia Chong’s book, too!).

“I can’t believe this…” Zhong Hui says to himself as he watches Jia Chong hover around their lord protectively. “How could he just go from one extreme to the next like that?” He grits his teeth and flips his hair over his shoulder. “Whatever! I am the Chosen One!” He says triumphantly, “I don’t need him, I don’t need anyone at all! I’ll turn the tide of this battle all myself, just watch me!” Zhong Hui rushes forwards into battle so quickly he doesn’t hear Sima Zhao calling after him.

“Zhong Hui! Where are you going?” Sima Zhao yells as loud as he can to get his subordinate’s attention, but Zhong Hui was too far out to hear him. “There isn’t anyone out there to help him, what is he doing?”

Jia Chong doesn’t answer his lord, but he turns and watches the other man run off into the distance.

* * *

 

When Zhong Hui finally stops running, he doesn’t know where he is.

“Where am I?” He looks around, “I don’t even see any enemy troops over here.” He bites his lip – he knows he shouldn’t have gone out so far but he was just so lost in the moment…and he _swore_ he was going the right way, was this not the way towards the enemy main camp? There should be more enemy soldiers here to guard the path—

“He’s here! Ambush troops!”

Zhong Hui had spoken too soon – he didn’t even have time to finish his thought process before he fell right into the enemy’s ambush. He curses at himself as enemy soldiers surround and outnumber him, drawing his weapon and stepping back to distance himself from them.

“You think you caught me off guard? Hah! This is such a laughable excuse of an ambush.” His hands begin to shake despite his outward confidence. “I will take you all on right now!”

A few soldiers charge toward him, and Zhong Hui has no trouble side stepping and cutting them down. But just as he thinks he is able to overcome the enemy in front of him, a sharp pain slices through his leg, when a soldier he thought he had killed grabs his sword to stab him from below. Zhong Hui stumbles away, but not before clumsily tripping and rolling his ankle with a painful crunching sound. He hits the ground with a pained cry, his leg bleeding out and staining the green grass a deep red.

“Stay away from me…!” Zhong Hui tries to crawl backwards as the soldiers approach him with their weapons ready. He shuts his eyes out of reflex and instinctively extends his hand to block against a blow …that never comes. He hears another cry, and when his eyes open again, the man is dead with an axe lodged deeply in his back. The next soldier to attack him suffers the same fate. Zhong Hui looks up just in time to see a familiar, dark-clothed man approaching him.

"I leave you alone for five minutes and this is what happens?"

"What are you doing here?!”

“A simple ‘thank you’ would suffice. I came all the way out here to save you.”

“I didn’t need saving.”

“Clearly.” Jia Chong steps on the body of a soldier to yank his axe out where it wedged deep into the flesh. “What were you thinking, coming all the way out here?”

“I don’t need to explain myself to you.”

Jia Chong wipes away the blood from the blade, and then looks up. “We need to leave,” he says, noticing more enemy troops approaching in the distance. “Can you walk?”

"Of course I can!" Zhong Hui tries to stand, but the searing pain that suddenly explodes from his leg keeps him from moving. He mutters curses under his breath and winces at his injury. Jia Chong gives a long sigh, and then tosses his axe to the side.

"Okay, time to go. Come here." Jia Chong leans down and immediately scoops up the general into his arms with ease.

"Wh-what are you doing! Put me down!!" Zhong Hui protests, his face reddening in his embarrassment of the situation, but the feeling of being held in Jia Chong’s arms almost makes him feel…safe? Jia Chong holds him with no difficulty at all – settling himself in Jia Chong’s arms, he tries not to make it seem like he’s comfortable.

"What am I doing? You can’t walk and we need to leave, unless you’d like me to leave you here?" He bounces him gently in his arms, “I can do that.”

"No, don’t you dare!" Zhong Hui begins to yell but then bites his lip when he sees the enemy getting closer to them. “Okay, okay go! Go!!”

Jia Chong grips onto him tightly and immediately takes off, retreating quickly with the general in his arms. Zhong Hui wraps his arms around Jia Chong’s neck securely, peeking over his shoulder every now and then to make sure they weren’t in immediate danger.

"They’re following us," Zhong Hui observes.

"I can’t do everything!"

“Can you run faster?!”

“Of course I can, after I drop you.”

“How dare you even suggest that!” Zhong Hui latches onto the man’s neck even tighter in response. “I’m not letting go!”

Jia Chong skids to a stop as his path is blocked by enemy soldiers. “I hope this way is a detour,” He turns to run in a different direction.

“Don’t you have something to fend them off with?”

“No, I can’t carry you and a weapon.”

“You left your axes there?!”

“Would you rather I leave you there and take them with me instead?”

“But they’re –”

“I can replace them.” Jia Chong says between breaths, which were growing increasingly labored while he runs. “I cannot…replace you.” Zhong Hui opens his mouth to say something, completely taken aback by the man’s words, but Jia Chong beats him to it. “Don’t take that in the wrong way.” He says quickly, “You are valuable to Lord Sima Zhao.”

Zhong Hui’s cheeks tint a deep pink regardless. “Am I not valuable to you?”

“Not really, no.”

“Don’t give me that! As if you’d risk coming all the way out here to save me if you didn’t feel that way!”

“Now is _really_ not the time to be having this conversation.”

“I can’t believe you!”

Jia Chong doesn’t say anything for a moment, focusing on running and getting the two of them out of the area before wasting his energy bickering with the injured man in his arms. But his next words catch Zhong Hui’s attention. "Well…this could be a problem.” He says simply.

"What?" Zhong Hui looks ahead only to see the road end and them fast approaching a cliff overseeing a long stream of rushing water, and Jia Chong making no motions to show he is even thinking about slowing down.

"Gonglü…" Jia Chong doesn’t answer. "Gonglü…!" Zhong Hui repeats, panic emerging in his voice. "Gonglü, what are you doing?!"

"Do you have a better idea?"

"What?! No—No, you’re not…!!”

"Hold tight." Without even breaking stride, Jia Chong leaps off the cliff.

"No no no no…!" Zhong Hui latches onto him as tightly as he can, his eyes widening as they begin to drop… down…down…down… and Zhong Hui doesn’t even try to stop the high pitched screaming that comes out of his panicked state.

He doesn’t know if it’s the rushing water or Jia Chong that breaks his fall, but that’s all he remembers before everything goes dark.

* * *

 

When he comes to, he is back in his own room. Zhong Hui stirs as he waits for his vision to feel a little less cloudy, and then he looks around, taking in his surroundings and wondering how he got there. Was he really in his room again or was this all just a dream? Sitting up in his bed as much as he can, the sudden sharp pain in his leg tells him that this is very much not a dream.

"You’re awake." The voice beside him is familiar, and he turns quickly – perhaps too quickly than he should have, because everything feels dizzy and upside-down almost instantly. But he doesn’t need to see the man to know that the voice belongs to Jia Chong.

"Why am I back here?" Zhong Hui manages after he decides his head feels too heavy to keep up, and he rests it back against the pillows.

"You passed out. Probably from the combination of blood loss and shock, but you’ve been out for a day and a half." Jia Chong replies. "How do you feel?"

"How did I get here?"

"That wasn’t my question, but… I carried you out of the water and handed you over to Deng Ai. He took care of the rest."

"Carried me out of the water?" Zhong Hui just barely remembers holding on to Jia Chong tightly as they jumped into the rushing water, but the rest made his head hurt too much to think about.

Zhong Hui touches his head, and then looks at his neatly bandaged leg. “Did you do this?”

Jia Chong stands. “I already told you, Deng Ai took care of the rest. You should ask him if you have any more questions.” He doesn’t seem like he is in the mood to talk, and makes for the door. “Rest now, I’ll come back to check on you later.” Jia Chong closes the door behind him and leaves Zhong Hui alone again.

But Zhong Hui isn’t able to rest for long before Deng Ai enters carrying some food and a teapot of warm water. “I heard you were awake,” he says softly. “Are you hungry?”

“No, not really.” Really, he could feel his appetite slowly coming back to him, but he didn’t feel like eating the plain _mantou_ Deng Ai had brought him.

“You should eat, you’ve been out cold for a day and a half.” Deng Ai sets the food down on the table beside the bed.

“So I’ve heard…”

“At least drink something.”

“I will.” He says, sighing. He knows it would be inappropriate to let his pride continue against the man beside him after he’d done so much to help him. “…Thank you.”

“It’s just _mantou_ and water, no need to thank me.”

“I meant for this,” Zhong Hui frowns and gestures obviously to his bandages. Deng Ai looks confused.

“I didn’t do that,” And Zhong Hui’s face twists to look even more confused than Deng Ai.

“What? Who did? Jia Chong told me you did.” Deng Ai shakes his head.

“No…he did all of that. I found you both by the riverbank, he had just dragged you out of the water but you were too waterlogged for him to carry, so I carried you back.” Deng Ai explains, “But that’s all I did. He dried you off and made sure you were alright, and then we took you back here. I offered to do more, but he was insistent.”

“Was I conscious?”

“No, at least not when I found you both.”

“What if I was dead?! Did you two even bother to check for a pulse?! What if that killed me?!”

“Well, of course, and gave you mouth-to-mouth—“

“What?!” Zhong Hui almost leaps out of bed. “Did he do that too?!”

“Uh, no.” Deng Ai shifts uncomfortably. “I did that.” Zhong Hui doesn’t even think his face could have twisted any faster than it just did.

“Ugh, disgusting old man germs.” He grimaces.

“You’re welcome.”

Zhong Hui reaches for the water and takes a sip, inhaling the soothing steam from the cup and letting it calm him down. “Really though, thank you.”

“No need, really, he did most of it.” Deng Ai says. “I think he was worried about you.”

Zhong Hui’s grip on the cup tightens in his attempt to stay calm at his comrade’s words. “Worried? Jia Chong? I don’t think he’s even capable of that emotion.”

“He stayed with you all this time.” The older man explains slowly. “For the past day and a half he’s been sitting here next to you. He didn’t say anything whenever we saw him elsewhere, he’d do his work and eat, but he’d always come back to sit with you.”

“I don’t believe you,” Zhong Hui takes another sip of water. “That’s too unlike him. Jia Chong doesn’t have emotions. Unless you’re his next victim, and then he’s all over you.” He adds.

Deng Ai only shrugs. “For a while you were running a fever. Maybe he was concerned about that, especially because you weren’t conscious for it.”

Zhong Hui finishes the water and shoves the cup to Deng Ai, who takes it and refills it. “You say he was worried, but the minute I woke up, he left. How am I supposed to believe that?”

“I don’t have an answer for you, I don’t understand him either.” Deng Ai offers back the water but Zhong Hui shakes his head, and so he places it on the bedside table. “Anyway, you should rest now. Eat if you’re hungry, there’s always more.”

When Deng Ai is gone, Zhong Hui lays back and stares at the ceiling. Jia Chong, worried about him? Even the very _concept_ of that seemed impossible. But still…if that were true… Zhong Hui reaches over and shoves a _mantou_ in his mouth to distract himself from his own thoughts.

* * *

 

Perhaps it was because he’d already spent a day and a half out cold, but by the time everyone else had already gone back to their rooms for the night, Zhong Hui was lying listlessly in bed, wide awake and unable to asleep. And because of his injured leg, he couldn’t even go out and take a walk, rendered completely useless by his injury. He cursed his foolishness – if he hadn’t gone out so far in battle he wouldn’t have been so careless… but then again, if he hadn’t done that then he wouldn’t have been saved by Jia Chong, and—

Zhong Hui shakes the thoughts out of his mind. Saved by Jia Chong? Why was he so grateful for that? It could have been anyone else and yet his heart leaps at the thought of Jia Chong… and how safe he felt being held in his arms, the strong grip around his body, how Jia Chong moved as they fell so that he hit the water first and— wait, did he do that? Did Jia Chong really take the impact of the fall for him? Zhong Hui isn’t sure if he was actually recalling events from that day or if his mind was making things up for him. But he vaguely remembers the sudden cold sensation of hitting the water, and how it engulfed the two of them and carried them downstream. The last thing he can remember before losing consciousness was Jia Chong holding on to him, making sure he didn’t lose him in the rushing current, and then…

Zhong Hui rolls onto this side. Why was he suddenly thinking about all this? Perhaps he was still feeling the after-effects of the fever, even though his head didn’t feel warm at all. But the more he thought about Jia Chong’s actions, the more he could feel the blood rush to his cheeks. He was glad no one was around to see this, how embarrassing that would be. But as much as he tries to push away these thoughts about the older man, the more he thought about him, and the more he thought about him, the more his mind wandered…

He almost wants to hit himself in the face just to stop this from happening. “Why am I thinking about him so much?!” He says out loud, “Why…” Was it only because Jia Chong was worried about him? No, Jia Chong had kissed him, didn’t he? Days before, Jia Chong had kissed him in the hallway while he was talking and said nothing about it until Zhong Hui confronted him. And then… Zhong Hui had asked him to do it again, because he was so enamored, so taken by that first surprise kiss that he needed another, and after that, another, and after that…

‘ _Stop that, Zhong Hui_ ,’ He berates himself in his mind, ‘ _You can’t be thinking of that sort of thing_.’ But Jia Chong _did_ agree to kiss him again, and Zhong Hui thinks back to the afternoon they spent kissing in Jia Chong’s bed. How soft his lips were against Zhong Hui’s, how his tongue crept past his mouth and toyed with him, how the one, short groan that escaped Jia Chong’s throat sent shivers down Zhong Hui’s spine, and the hand in his hair was so gentle and—

Zhong Hui takes a breath in an attempt to steady himself, but it was already too late. His thoughts had already caused the blood to rush downward, and he was starting to feel an uncomfortable problem forming in between his legs. ‘ _No, no no no, not now, this can’t be happening_ ,’ He tries to think of something else, something that will ruin the mood (unfinished work? Sima Zhao’s snoring? Zhuge Dan naked? That creepy skeleton thing Guo Huai may or may not be keeping underneath his bed?) but he can’t, all of his thoughts return to Jia Chong and how smooth his arms were when Zhong Hui ran his fingers down to graze against his muscles and—

‘ _NO_ ,’ Zhong Hui bites his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood, hoping the pain will help solve his problem, but then he only thinks of how Jia Chong nipped and sucked on that very same spot on his lip, and ran his tongue along the edge of his lower lip and _ugh_ , if Jia Chong’s tongue could feel so good in his mouth, just imagine what it would feel like on his— ‘ _Zhong Hui get a hold of yourself!!_ ’

His thoughts only makes his problem worse, and Zhong Hui really doesn’t see any other solution. He reluctantly slides his hand down past his stomach and hesitantly palms himself through his clothing, his breath hitching at the friction from the fabric against him. He bites his lip again, feeling how hot his face suddenly feels when he tugs his robes down just enough to free his erection, which was certainly begging for the attention Zhong Hui did not want to give it. He starts his strokes slow; although he was still fighting with himself about doing this sort of thing in the first place, since this seemed to be inevitable, he’d at least make a night of it. It wasn’t like he’d be sleeping anytime soon, anyway.

“Ah,” His first moans are short, he can feel his cock pulsing against his hand, aching for more, but Zhong Hui doesn’t increase his pace. He closes his eyes and imagines Jia Chong’s lips against him, sucking and kissing him on his mouth, his neck, his shoulders, his— “ _Ah_!” Zhong Hui’s next moans are louder as his breathing slowly turns to low panting. He imagines Jia Chong’s strong hands touching him here and there and then spreading his legs apart so he can—

“Oh, _god_ ,” Zhong Hui speeds his strokes up just a bit, resisting the urge to buck his hips against his hand. “G-Gonglü…” The name escapes his lips from the back of his throat before he even has the desire to stop it, “Gonglü…!”

“Yes?” Comes the sudden reply from inside the room. Zhong Hui screams.

“Wh-wh?!” Zhong Hui lets go of himself immediately and scrambles to sit up, eyes wide with terror, drawing the blankets all the way up to his neck. He tries to say more but any and all attempts only come out as incoherent noises.

“What?” Jia Chong emerges from the shadows, arms crossed, face twisted in what Zhong Hui only believes is a mixture of confusion and (maybe?) amusement.

Zhong Hui finally manages to string together a coherent sentence. “How long have you been here?!”

“Long enough.” Jia Chong replies, his gaze fixed on Zhong Hui’s sweating and nervous face.

“This is my room! Haven’t you ever heard of knocking?!”

“I did.”

“And you just walked in without a reply?”

“If I recall correctly, I did say I was going to check up on you again. If you were unconscious and dying, should I have waited for a reply?”

“Th-this is different! I’m better now!”

“Yes, I can see that.”

“You…!” Zhong Hui’s heart races incredibly fast in his complete and utter embarrassment; he almost feels like he could die from sheer humiliation alone. “You could clearly see th-that I was busy here and you still walked in?!”

“Well, yes. You didn’t seem to notice me so I—”

“So you stayed here and watched me?!”

“I don’t remember saying I necessarily minded what I was seeing. Besides,” Jia Chong shifts his stance and the corners of his mouth curl upwards just slightly. “I heard my name, so of course I had to stay.”

If Zhong Hui had any extra blood left in his body to spare, it would all be in his face right now. “That…you didn’t…I didn’t…!”

“Are you going to tell me you were thinking of a different Gonglü or am I safe to assume you were thinking of me?”

Zhong Hui doesn’t think he can say anything else to make this situation any less awkward, and so he shuts his mouth and keeps quiet. Jia Chong laughs from where he stands, but it’s muffled by the ringing in Zhong Hui’s ears from all the blood in his face. He can’t hear Jia Chong move towards him, and so when Zhong Hui thinks he’s gone, the sudden movement beside him sends his heart skyrocketing to the base of his throat.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Zhong Hui curls away from the man who had quietly slid his way under the blankets with him. Jia Chong chuckles quietly, and Zhong Hui doesn’t need to see the smile on his face to know that it’s there.

“Come here,” Jia Chong pats the space between them, but Zhong Hui doesn’t move.

“Go away,” Zhong Hui draws his legs close to his stomach in order to hide what remains of his confused erection. On one hand, the scare did help soften the problem considerably, but on the other… somehow having Jia Chong in bed with him was only contributing to the blood flow again. Did Jia Chong really just say he didn’t mind watching him…? This had to be a dream, this had to be some freakishly realistic dream caused by the after-effects of his fever.

But instead of waiting for Zhong Hui to move back towards him, Jia Chong decides to slide his way over to close the distance himself, pressing his chest to Zhong Hui’s back and snaking his arm around to touch the younger man’s chest. “Don’t be afraid of me, I’m not going to hurt you,” His breath his hot against Zhong Hui’s ear, sending shivers down his spine, all the way down to his hardening erection again.

“I’m… not afraid,” Zhong Hui replies slowly; he is almost certain Jia Chong can _hear_ his heartbeat from where he was. The low chuckle against his neck sends his abused heart into another frenzy.

“Good, because I’m going to help you.” Jia Chong presses his mouth against Zhong Hui’s earlobe, suckling it between his lips as his hand gently caresses Zhong Hui’s chest, and then his stomach, trailing down his side before resting on his thigh. His touches urge Zhong Hui to relax, to uncurl his legs and let Jia Chong help him, but Zhong Hui is still hesitant. Jia Chong’s lips move to kiss the younger man’s neck, nipping and sucking and leaving small red marks to pepper the soft skin there, and the very instant Zhong Hui’s legs move to uncurl, Jia Chong’s hand wastes no time sliding between them, fingers curling around Zhong Hui’s erection gently.

The addition of Jia Chong’s touch sends Zhong Hui into a completely new level of arousal. A moan escapes his throat after the first few strokes, and Zhong Hui’s breath hitches again when Jia Chong moves to kiss the nape of his neck, gliding his lips across his shoulder blade. For a man who prides himself on cold-blooded murder, his lips and his touch were so soft and sweet… Zhong Hui almost can’t believe this is the same man. Jia Chong’s strokes are teasingly slow; he relishes the moan he receives from rubbing the tip with his thumb, and he’s nearly certain he can feel the pulse throbbing in the cock in his hand. Zhong Hui has to bite his lip again to stop him from moving his hips – Jia Chong’s touches were driving him absolutely _crazy_ , but he wasn’t about to beg. The last thing he wanted to do was beg. He brings his hand up to cover his mouth, muffling his ragged and labored panting.

Jia Chong’s pace quickens along with Zhong Hui’s breathing. “Gonglü…” He manages, and against his better judgment, starts to buck his hips against Jia Chong’s stroking. Jia Chong opens his mouth and grazes his teeth along the younger man’s shoulder, taking the skin into his mouth and biting down hard enough to leave an indent, another moan escaping Zhong Hui’s throat as he does so.

“Hmm? Do you like that?” Jia Chong shifts so he has a better angle on the advisor, and Zhong Hui clenches his teeth and nods. Jia Chong kisses back up to his neck – his lips make loud, wet, sounds against the skin there – and with his teeth, he tugs at Zhong Hui’s earlobe again. “Look at me,” He orders, and Zhong Hui immediately turns his head so Jia Chong can claim his lips, flicking his tongue across where Zhong Hui had broke skin earlier, and increasing his pace down below as he did so.

Zhong Hui groans through the kisses, having a hard time keeping up with both the kissing and the stroking, and his hand twists the bed sheets below him. “Mmnh, Gonglü,” He breathes in between kisses, “Gonglü,” he repeats, signaling to his partner that he was already close to finishing. The near-whimpering sounds he makes are muffled by Jia Chong’s tongue when it slips inside and flicks against the roof of his mouth, slick against Zhong Hui’s in a wet and firm kiss. When he pulls away, saliva drips and glistens on Zhong Hui’s pink lips. Jia Chong can feel the younger man’s body tense, and Zhong Hui’s moans are longer and more drawn out than before as the pressure wells up in his stomach. “Gonglü I— _Ah_!” Zhong Hui tenses up one last time before finishing in Jia Chong’s hand, his entire body trembling as he did so, the streaks of sticky white semen coating Jia Chong’s fingers and palm nicely. Not a single drop touched the blanket or the bed sheets.

Jia Chong kisses the advisor’s shoulder blade and then quickly removes himself from Zhong Hui’s sweaty and panting body and leaves to wipe the mess away. He returns with a cold cloth, which he tosses over Zhong Hui’s face. “Wh— hey!” Zhong Hui sits up and gently presses the rag to his forehead. The cool fabric is a relief against his hot skin.

“Are you okay?” Jia Chong asks him before doing anything else. Zhong Hui nods, taking a deep breath to steady himself.

“Yes, I’m okay.” He replies, and only then does Jia Chong come towards him again.

“I just wanted to make sure you weren’t running a fever again.” Jia Chong slides back into bed with him and gives him a quick peck on his head.

“I wasn’t warm because of a fever…” Zhong Hui wipes the sweat from his face and waits until his breathing had returned to normal before reaching down to fix his robes. “Is that why you came back?”

“I already told you, I came back to see how you were doing.”

“So then what made you…” Zhong Hui stops himself before he says something he thinks he may regret.

“Hm?”

“No, nothing.”

“Tell me.”

Zhong Hui hesitates for a moment. “I heard you were worried about me when I was sick, is that true?”

“No use in thinking about that now. You’re better now, right?”

“Well, yes, but that doesn’t answer my question.” He can almost see Jia Chong’s unwillingness to answer the question painted right on his face. Or perhaps, he thinks, not even Jia Chong knows the answer? With Jia Chong’s silence, Zhong Hui looks away and pauses for a moment before bringing up another question. “Why did you… Why didn’t you just leave when you saw me?”

Jia Chong acknowledges this one with somewhat of an answer. “Are we really going back to asking me why I do what I do?”

“I just want to know, do you…” Zhong Hui trails off but forces himself to continue the sentence, “I mean, it’s not like I have…” He shakes his head and rephrases it, “Well it’s not like you have any feelings for me or anything so I mean…” His heartbeat starts up again as his words just fall from his lips before he can stop them. “Right? Unless you…”

Jia Chong sits back, and the neutral expression on his face makes Zhong Hui think he had asked something stupid (perhaps he did, but it isn’t something Zhong Hui is willing to think about right now).

“Okay, forget it, I just wanted—“But Jia Chong interrupts him with his answer.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know what?”

“You asked me why I did it, and my answer is I don’t know.”

“What kind of a reason is that?”

“Maybe I just wanted to see how you’d react.” The corners of Jia Chong’s mouth curl upward as he replies, looking amused at how their line of conversation was repeating itself.

“Is that your reasoning behind everything?” Jia Chong’s answer is only a low chuckle, and nothing more. Zhong Hui slides back under the covers and rests his head on his pillow, watching the other advisor carefully.  “I just want to understand you.”

“Understand me?”

Zhong Hui steadies himself before continuing. “You kiss me out of nowhere, and then act like you don’t want anything to do with me, and then… this.” Predictably, Jia Chong doesn’t answer immediately, so Zhong Hui shakes his head. “Never mind, I… thank you for saving me.”

“Someone had to.” Jia Chong replies quietly.

“Isn’t there something else you should say?” Zhong Hui frowns, waiting for something he actually wants to hear.

“Like what?”

“That you have feelings for me.” Jia Chong instantly rolls his eyes so quickly, Zhong Hui takes immediate offense. “Don’t even try to deny it, especially after what you just did!”

“I never said I was going to.”

“So then you do?”

“I never said that, either.” Jia Chong replies, but this time with a slight smile on his face. It almost makes Zhong Hui’s temperature start to rise again. He wants to continue the conversation line, but at that point he knows better. He pulls the blanket up over himself and reaches out to just barely touch the other man’s hand with the tips of his fingers.

“Are you going to stay?”

“Would you like me to?”

“Yes.” Zhong Hui doesn’t hesitate in his answer. Jia Chong slides in fully under the blankets beside him, and the very moment his head touches the pillow, Zhong Hui grabs him and pulls him in for a kiss, crushing their lips together so quickly, their teeth first clack together uncomfortably. Jia Chong immediately brings his hand up to hold the boy by the chin in order to steady him, kissing him slowly and deeply, and Zhong Hui is almost breathless by the time they pull away.

Jia Chong gazes at the younger man expectantly, waiting for him to say something, but instead Zhong Hui rolls away to face the other side, pressing his back against Jia Chong’s front. “Good night,” he says quickly. He knows it isn’t what Jia Chong expected, and Zhong Hui hides his smile behind the blanket, satisfied with the feeling of finally taking the quieter man off guard. Jia Chong wraps his arm around Zhong Hui’s torso, dragging him closer to kiss the back of his head.

“Your bed is so soft.” Jia Chong mumbles his words softly against Zhong Hui’s neck.

“Yes,” Zhong Hui says sleepily, his eyes closing, “I like it that way.”

**Author's Note:**

> SLAM DUNKS THIS SHIP INTO EXISTENCE
> 
> Mantou is Chinese steamed bread. It's very good, but very plain.
> 
> (subliminal messaging: pls ship this with me)


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